A few days ago, the NRA inadvertently said something reasonable. This, in response to a series of protests in Texas. It seems advocates of the right to carry firearms openly have taken to showing up en masse at public places -- coffee shops, museums, restaurants, etc. -- toting shotguns and assault rifles. So say you're snapping photos at Dealey Plaza, and up sidles some guy with an AK slung over his shoulder. That sudden dryness of mouth and tightness of sphincter you feel is not reassurance.

A few days ago, the NRA inadvertently said something reasonable. This, in response to a series of protests in Texas. It seems advocates of the right to carry firearms openly have taken to showing up en masse at public places -- coffee shops, museums, restaurants, etc. -- toting shotguns and assault rifles. So say you're snapping photos at Dealey Plaza, and up sidles some guy with an AK slung over his shoulder. That sudden dryness of mouth and tightness of sphincter you feel is not reassurance.

The shotgun that Robert Wayne Gladden Jr. allegedly used in last week's shooting at Perry Hall High School wasn't registered with the state. Under Maryland law, that wasn't required. Police also say the 15-year-old Gladden should never have been able to get his hands on the weapon. He found it unsecured in his father's home, according to court documents. The shooting has shed light on the gap between the regulation of handguns - often used in crimes - and "long guns" such as the double-barrel Western Field shotgun that police seized, a firearm more common on a hunting range or farm.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Heather R. Mizeur called for tightening of Maryland's laws on long guns Thursday night in the wake of the shotgun attack that took three lives at The Mall in Columbia Saturday. Her proposal came as the Montgomery County delegate met Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler at a forum that drew two-thirds of the Democratic field in the 2014 race for governor to the giant Leisure World senior complex in Montgomery County. Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, whose father died earlier in the day, did not attend.

Three burglars used a blowtorch early yesterday to pry bars off the window of a Crownsville gun store, then stole several handguns and long guns, including assault rifles, county police said.The men used a torch to cut through the welded bars on a window on the north side of Bay Country Guns, in the 500 block of Defense Highway, shortly before 3 a.m., police said. After pulling off the bars, they pulled out an air conditioner and two of the men climbed through.Video surveillance tapes show two of the thieves breaking a glass display case and loading several handguns into canvas bags.

LITTLETON, Colo. -- Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold got the high-powered, semiautomatic pistol used in last week's high school massacre with the help of a man who worked with them at a pizza delivery store, law-enforcement officials said yesterday."

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Heather R. Mizeur called for tightening of Maryland's laws on long guns Thursday night in the wake of the shotgun attack that took three lives at The Mall in Columbia Saturday. Her proposal came as the Montgomery County delegate met Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler at a forum that drew two-thirds of the Democratic field in the 2014 race for governor to the giant Leisure World senior complex in Montgomery County. Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, whose father died earlier in the day, did not attend.

Banning rifles is the wrong way to combat crime With respect to The Sun's editorial "The line of fire" (July 5), I would first like to express my sympathy to the families of the slain Alabama police officers and my anger at the criminals who killed them. Those responsible for these crimes should be punished to the full extent of the law. And the author of the editorial is to be applauded for describing SKS rifles as semiautomatics instead of automatics or machine guns, as is often done.

Your Nov. 20 editorial, "Ending assault-gun imports," showed a total lack of knowledge on the subject. First of all, individual firearms dealers do not apply for import licenses directly. Importers and distributors bring these firearms into the county.Second and more important, these semi-automatic firearms are not used by any army in the world. Soldiers use fully automatic machine guns, not semi-automatic rifles. The firearms in question cannot fire any faster than any commercially available hunting semi-automatic rifle.

From the beginning, the thing that everyone writes about the mayor of all Baltimore, Kurt L. Schmoke, is what a brilliant fellow he is, which we can now examine with two moves in the past week aimed at stopping the bleeding around here.We refer to the television-friendly plan of the mayor's to spend money to take guns off the street - yeah, those street thugs are just lining up to disarm themselves! - and his publicized directive to the state's attorney's office to make no deals with defendants charged with gun violations.

By Yvonne Wenger and Alison Knezevich, The Baltimore Sun | October 15, 2012

Two Baltimore County boys traded a Bersa .380-caliber gun for an Xbox 360 in a swap that ended when officers found a handful of bullets in jeans left in a school locker room, police said Friday. The exchange between the 12-year-old students at Deer Park Middle Magnet is the third gun-related incident in county schools since the academic year started in late August, including a shooting at Perry Hall High School that left one student seriously injured. The recent gun violence — and the extent to which Baltimore County students have had access to weapons — has unnerved many in the school community.

The shotgun that Robert Wayne Gladden Jr. allegedly used in last week's shooting at Perry Hall High School wasn't registered with the state. Under Maryland law, that wasn't required. Police also say the 15-year-old Gladden should never have been able to get his hands on the weapon. He found it unsecured in his father's home, according to court documents. The shooting has shed light on the gap between the regulation of handguns - often used in crimes - and "long guns" such as the double-barrel Western Field shotgun that police seized, a firearm more common on a hunting range or farm.

Banning rifles is the wrong way to combat crime With respect to The Sun's editorial "The line of fire" (July 5), I would first like to express my sympathy to the families of the slain Alabama police officers and my anger at the criminals who killed them. Those responsible for these crimes should be punished to the full extent of the law. And the author of the editorial is to be applauded for describing SKS rifles as semiautomatics instead of automatics or machine guns, as is often done.

As momentum builds for a statewide assault weapons ban to replace a federal one that is expiring, all eyes are on Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., who voted against the federal law while in Congress. Ehrlich said yesterday that he hasn't taken a position on legislation introduced in the Senate by Montgomery County Sen. Robert J. Garagiola and being prepared in the House by Del. Neil F. Quinter, that would expand the state's 1994 ban on assault pistols to include assault rifles and weapons that share their characteristics.

SEATTLE -- Just as the school shooting in Colorado last month has spurred Congress to the verge of approving measures like background checks for gun buyers and safety-lock devices for firearms, many state legislatures are passing gun-control laws as well, in some cases taking up measures that had long been considered unlikely to pass.Late last month, the California Assembly passed a bill limiting handgun sales to one per person per month, a measure that had languished in past years.Other measures restricting gun ownership are under way in Sacramento, with promises that Gov. Gray Davis, a Democrat inaugurated in January, will sign them.

LITTLETON, Colo. -- Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold got the high-powered, semiautomatic pistol used in last week's high school massacre with the help of a man who worked with them at a pizza delivery store, law-enforcement officials said yesterday."

As the Glendening administration seeks tougher restrictions on handgun purchases, including a ban on buying a gun for someone else, a new state police unit is checking on people who have bought more than two handguns at a time to ask if they still have the weapons.At least a few of the purchasers and dealers -- and the National Rifle Association -- believe the telephone calls are harassment, an invasion of their privacy and possibly illegal."If they want to hang up on us, they can hang up on us," said Detective Jack Simpson, who heads the five-member unit called Operation Maryland Cease Fire.

By Yvonne Wenger and Alison Knezevich, The Baltimore Sun | October 15, 2012

Two Baltimore County boys traded a Bersa .380-caliber gun for an Xbox 360 in a swap that ended when officers found a handful of bullets in jeans left in a school locker room, police said Friday. The exchange between the 12-year-old students at Deer Park Middle Magnet is the third gun-related incident in county schools since the academic year started in late August, including a shooting at Perry Hall High School that left one student seriously injured. The recent gun violence — and the extent to which Baltimore County students have had access to weapons — has unnerved many in the school community.

Three burglars used a blowtorch early yesterday to pry bars off the window of a Crownsville gun store, then stole several handguns and long guns, including assault rifles, county police said.The men used a torch to cut through the welded bars on a window on the north side of Bay Country Guns, in the 500 block of Defense Highway, shortly before 3 a.m., police said. After pulling off the bars, they pulled out an air conditioner and two of the men climbed through.Video surveillance tapes show two of the thieves breaking a glass display case and loading several handguns into canvas bags.

Your Nov. 20 editorial, "Ending assault-gun imports," showed a total lack of knowledge on the subject. First of all, individual firearms dealers do not apply for import licenses directly. Importers and distributors bring these firearms into the county.Second and more important, these semi-automatic firearms are not used by any army in the world. Soldiers use fully automatic machine guns, not semi-automatic rifles. The firearms in question cannot fire any faster than any commercially available hunting semi-automatic rifle.